Lord of Annihilation

"Oh? I didn't know that." Lucius causally answered, much to Prometheus' shock.

In his previous life, after escaping from the sealed cave door, Lucius had simply steamrolled his way through the entire facility. Everyone that appeared before him to stop him was killed, and everyone else was also killed to simply vent his anger.

As for the teleportation array that led back to the main dimension, it had coincidently been open when Lucius had reached it. As such, there was no real obstacle to his smooth journey.

Talk about luck and coincidence…

Recovering from his stupor, Prometheus continued.

"Anyway. With your arrival, they must've opened the channel recently, instead of the usual 'yearly stock replenishment' period. This is our chance." 

"Now, what I was thinking was that we secretly capture two officers, knock them out—"

"Kill them," Lucius corrected.

"—kill them, assume their appearance and identity, stroll into the 'Transfer Room', activate the teleportation, catch a ride, and go back home. It's simple, easy, and water-tight," Prometheus concluded. "What do you think?"

"Efficient. Not very different from my plan," Lucius answered.

"May I ask, what 'was' your plan?" 

Cupping his chin, Prometheus curiously asked with a twinkle in his eyes.

"Kill everyone, walk into 'Transfer Room', activate the teleportation, and escape."

Lucius answered with a straight face and an indifferent set of eyes. His voice while saying that plan was straight and eerie. 

Or at least, it sounded eerie to Prometheus, who felt a shiver down his spine.

"Ah, how masterful," he nervously replied. "But I do think that we should stick to my plan. Facing three Stage 5 entities is no joke, you know."

"I know."

Gulping down nervously, Prometheus continued, "You weren't planning on using me as a shield during your escape, right?"

Lucius did not immediately reply but pondered with his head facing down for a moment. He then met Prometheus' gaze and answered, "There wouldn't be any threats to your life."

"That's not the answer I was looking for!!?" Prometheus yelled while jumping to his feet.

His sudden yell instantly drew the attention of the other people within the cafeteria. The duo immediately felt dozens of gazed focused on their bodies. 

With sweat trickling down his back, Prometheus hurriedly fixed the situation, "I-I'm telling you, dude, that spell model does not work that way! You will seriously injure yourself if you carelessly use it!" He then sat down.

Hearing his words, the majority of the gazes immediately retracted and most of the listeners quietly nodded their heads. 

The Magi were generally impassionate creatures. However, if there was something that greatly attracted their interest, be it power, knowledge, wealth, etc, they would immediately turn into very enthusiastic beings.

An argument on a spell model was one of the most common discussions where a Magi gets unusually passionate and excitable. Prometheus' outburst was simply brushed off as another such case.

"Whew, that was close," Prometheus wiped the sweat from his brows. "Sorry about my outburst. It's just that, it saddens me to know that you consider me as something disposable. I think of you as a real friend, and you're just not putting the—"

"Shush."

"See, what I'm saying? You can't just interrupt someone when they're having a heart-to-heart. It's just plain rude—"Prometheus was forced to shut up as Lucius pinched his lips.

Looking at Lucius with an aggrieved gaze, Prometheus immediately saw the former motioning in a certain direction with his eyes. Turning his gaze in that direction, his eyes suddenly widened and a smile formed on his face.

Walking through the corridor in the path outside the cafeteria were two Magi wearing a completely different uniform. 

"Officers," Lucius vocalized.

"And my best day keeps getting better!" exclaimed Prometheus, a crooked smile showing on his face while his eyes roamed over the Officer's figures.

Getting up from their seats quietly, the duo deposited their empty metal trays and cutleries at the cleaning station and quickly made their way out of the cafeteria.

Joining the moving crowd outside, they carefully followed and gradually closed the distance between them and the two Officers.

----------

"Wa-wait, what do you wa--!!"

Tak! Thud!

An average-looking Magi draped in teal-color Officer robes dropped to the ground after being knocked out. 

Bending down and confirming that the officer was truly unconscious, Lucius put his hands on the Magi's head and pressed. A surge of [Annihilation Intent] exited his hands and instantly wiped out his consciousness, killing him.

Turning around, he nodded towards Prometheus, who was maintaining the runic barrier around them and spoke. 

"They've been dealt with."

"Got it," replied Prometheus and drew a few more runes in the air using his magic power. After confirming that the barrier would hold, he turned around and approached Lucius.

Gazing at both the Officers that had been killed without the slightest injury inflicted upon their bodies, Prometheus let out a sound of astonishment, "Wow! You killed them without the slightest scratch or the smallest drop of blood."

"How strong are you really?" 

"Enough to protect myself," Lucius replied. He then stood up, pointed towards the two corpses on the ground, and spoke, "Your turn."

Nodding his head, Prometheus approached the dead body that was a little farther away from them. Crouching next to it, he drew a few colorful runes above it and turned towards Lucius. 

"Come over here. I'll disguise you."

At his calling, Lucius did not immediately move. Instead, he stared at Prometheus with an unamused expression and dryly said, "Not funny."

"I wasn't trying to be funny," Prometheus replied with a smile on his face. He then pointed at the face of the corpse before explaining, "My disguise technique is good, but it's not perfect. If we are to continue our escape while keeping the risks to a minimum, you have to do this."

"And between the two of us, you're the one that looks more feminine."

With a wide smile and outstretched arms, Prometheus declared. 

Indeed. The Magi whom Prometheus was asking Lucius to disguise into was a female Magi. 

Seeing the growing look of annoyance on Lucius' face, Prometheus continued to remain unbothered and spoke, "And before you say something like, 'Let's find someone else', we don't have time for that."

Turning serious, he explained, "The dimensional channel does not remain open for a long time. The sooner we get there, the greater are our chances of catching it open. If we miss this chance, we are screwed."

A tense silence descended as Lucius lowered his head and pondered. His long hair hid his facial expression making it impossible for Prometheus to read his expression. However, the pressure that he was exerting on his body made it evident that Lucius was not happy.

After a long, tense silence, Lucius finally raised his head and spoke.

"…fine."

He then stepped forward and stopped next to Prometheus and the female Magi corpse.

"That's the spirit!" Prometheus cheerfully declared and got to work.

---

Sometime later, two figures, a male and female Magi respectively, appeared out of a short, unusually dark corridor having a dead end. 

The male Magus possessed a white-colored gem on his forehead and had an expression of satisfaction on his average-looking face. 

The female Magus that emerged behind him had an orange-colored gem on her forehead and wore an expressionless face. Contrary to the male Magi, her appearance was anything but average, being well into the realm of extraordinary. 

With short and sleek black hair, a picture-perfect, doll-like face, a sizeable bust, and slender limbs, she was a rare beauty even amongst the aesthetically exceptional Magi.

Turning around, Prometheus stared at the newly disguised Lucius with a sleazy expression. Rubbing his jaws, he spoke, "Yeah, you definitely look better in your 'real' form. This disguise does not do justice to your real charm."

"Shut up," Lucius curtly replied, releasing a trace of his killing intent.

"Hey, I'm just telling the truth here," Prometheus put up his hands and continued in a helpless tone, "If we don't wanna get noticed by the Stage 5 Wardens, then the rune disguise that I use must be kept to a minimum. Your initial appearance makes it simpler to disguise you into a woman, than this average-looking dude." He pointed to himself towards the end.

"It's just for a little while, so just stick with it." 

After saying so, Prometheus turned around and started to walk towards one of the teleportation nodes in the sector. 

During their process of tailing the two officers, Prometheus had ensured to gather some more information from the various passer-by. With this information now in their hands, it was only a matter of time before they reached the 'Transfer Room' and escape.

After shooting an unresigned gaze at Prometheus' receding back for a few moments, Lucius lowered his head and quietly followed him.